Samuel: Priest, Prophet, and Judge (1-7)
Transition to king (8)
The Reign of Saul (9-14)
The decline of Saul and rise of David (15-31)
David’s Rule of Judah (1-4)
David’s Rule over all Israel (4-24)
Read the chapter together in groups of 4-8.
1. Look for repeated words, phrases that might be important to the meaning.
2. Look for the elements of plot: Setting, Rising Action, Climax, Resolution
1 Samuel 8
“Most human beings spend a great deal of their lives trying to find or win or buy or build security for themselves and for those they love. “ --John Woodhouse in PTW
1. SETTING
1 Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.
· When Samuel grew old—implies that a long time has passed since the last EVENT narrated, the victory over the Philistines in 1 Samuel 7:12. --David Tsumura in NICOT
· Since the name designates the personality which should characterize the holder, one might see an irony here. Samuel's sons did not deserve their good names, Joel and Abijah. Both containshort forms (yo and yᾱh) of the divine name Yahweh. The name Joel means “Yahu is God.” Abijah means “My father is Yah.”
· Proverbs 17:23 (NKJV)
23 A wicked man accepts a bribe behind the back[a]
To pervert the ways of justice.
· Beersheba. Beersheba is located at the southern extremity of the land in the northern Negev at Tell es-Seba’ (three miles east of the modern city). Archaeological finds from this period suggest that the site was in transition from being a temporary to a permanent settlement. Some of the first houses were just being built. The population would have been less than two hundred. Therefore this was a very minor appointment.[1]
· “The best of leaders can have the worst of sons.” --John Woodhouse in PTW
2a. ELDERS OF ISRAELS’ REQUEST
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
· Keeping in view that there was nothing absolutely wrong in Israel’s desire for a monarchy (Deut 17:14, etc.; comp. even Gen. 17:6, 16; 35:11), nor yet, so far as we can judge, relatively, as concerned the time when this demand was made, the explanation of the difficulty must lie in the motives and the manner rather than in the fact of the “elders,” request. [2]
· 6a The matter was evil in Samuel’s eyes is a more literal translation than “But the thing displeased Samuel” (NRAV). If the passage in Deuteronomy approved of – or at least did not object to – the people’s appointing a king “like the other nations,” and Samuel himself knew this passage, Samuel’s displeasure would have been at the attitude of the elders who requested a king and the reason for their request, rather than toward the fact that they requested a king. --David Tsumura in NICOT (Deuteronomy 17.14-20)
· Their deliverance was unseen, they wanted it seen; it was only certain to faith, but quite uncertain to them in their state of mind; [3]
· They have been mistaken in assessing their problem as a political problem and consequently opting for a political solution.[4]
· A king therefore offered a strong, stable, and predicable center of political authority for a nation that otherwise had to depend on an unseen God to unite them. --John Woodhouse in PTW
· The people wanted to become like all the other nations , but God had called them uniquely to be his people, under his especial care. --David Tsumura in NICOT
2b. SAMUEL PRAYS / GOD SPEAKS
6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel,
“Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also.
9 Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.”
· That their proposal amounted to an abandonment of the Lord is indicated by two things.
First, they asked for “a king to judge us.” Samuel had “judged” the people (1 Samuel 7:15-17), as had numerous judges before him.
The second indication is clearer still. In proposing that they should have a king to judge them, they were asking for an arrangement “like all the nations.” --John Woodhouse in PTW
· The proposal was anticipated centuries earlier in the laws given by Moses in Deuteronomy 17.
· 8:6 But instead of making an immediate reply, Samuel referred the matter to the Lord in prayer. The view which Samuel had taken was fully confirmed by the Lord, Who declared it a rejection of Himself, similar to that of their fathers when they forsook Him and served other gods. Still[5]
· The innovation proposed by the elders was a rejection of God’s ways and an attempt to find security elsewhere. Therefore is was “evil in the eyes of Samuel. --John Woodhouse in PTW
· The Lord’s response was full of surprises.
The first surprise is the puzzle. Samuel was told by the Lord to “Obey [or listen to] the voice of the people.
The second surprise is the radical interpretation that the Lord put on the proposed leadership change in Israel. …they had rejected God from being king over them.
The third surprise … It is becoming clear that the Lord’s willingness to grant the people their request was an act of judgment on their foolish and faithless request.
The desire to be from God’s good rule is punished by the experience of being given up to godless ways (cf. 1:24, 26, 28). --John Woodhouse in PTW
· Israel’s situation is full of instruction…
1. We have a tendency to assess our problems mechanically rather than spiritually.
2. …we are more interested in prescribing what form God’s help must take. Our attentions in not on God’s deliverance in our troubles but on specifying the method by which He must bring that deliverance.
3. God’s granting our request may not be a sign of His favor but of our obstinacy. --Dale Davis in I Samuel: Looking on the Heart
· Because some of our idolatry is so sophisticated and appears so reasonable, it can be extremely difficult to detect. --Dale Davis in I Samuel: Looking oon the Heart
· “What we have here is simply the old idolatry with a new twist.” --Dale Davis in I Samuel: Looking oon the Heart
· So the fault (1 Sam. 8) was not in the fact of the request but in the motive for the request.
· But Israel and the rest of us prefer to keep in step with our culture and fit into the molds of our society. Who wants to stand out in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” --Dale Davis in I Samuel: Looking oon the Heart
· “I cannot help thinking of some proposals that come forward today to make the church more efficient, strong, and effective. The proven experience of the world of business management offers methods that have made other organizations strong and growing. If only the churches would implement some of the strategies of the business schools or recruit leaders ike some of the successful companies, the churches could make an impact! They could expand their market share! I wonder whether you can hear a faint echo of the elders of Israel: “Give us a king … like the nations.” ----John Woodhouse in PTW
2c. SAMUEL SPEAKS TO PEOPLE
10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. 11 And he said,
“This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you:
· He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots.
· 12 He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
· 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.
· 14 And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.
· 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants.
· 16 And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.
· 17 He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants.
18 And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”
· The ways of the king (cf. v. 9) could be translated ‘the justice of the king’ (Heb. mišpāṭ has both meanings). There could be an element of satire in the wordplay, especially in the light of what follows.[6]
· They believed a king would give them such things as security, stability, and success; Samuel warned them that kings were much more likely to take than to give. (Notice how often the verb take occurs in vs 11–17.)[7]
· 8:12. working the king’s fields. Once an administration is set up, certain lands become royal lands (2 Chron 26:10). Land can become forfeit to the throne as a result of criminal activity, or land can come to the throne through lack of heirs to inherit ancestral property. This land would be farmed to provide food for the administration as well as to supply stockpiles against emergency. Those who work the land may be forced laborers (in a form of taxation), slaves from foreign peoples or debt slaves who have no other way to recover from losses.[8]
· 8:13 Perfumers performed a number of different duties at the court. The king’s garments were regularly perfumed, and spices were burnt in order to maintain a pleasing aroma around the palace. Additionally, some spices were recognized as having medicinal value, in which case the perfumer might be performing the task of pharmacist. Assyrian texts and Egyptian tomb paintings both portray elaborate procedures for preparing these spices and ointments.[9]
· 8:17. tithe of grain and flocks as taxes. In Ugaritic literature, the tithe is a fixed payment to the king made by each town and village. In earlier biblical passages the tithe was treated as something due the priesthood and the sanctuary. Here the tithe describes royal taxation.[10]
· … God gives her [Israel] instruction but she is not teachable.” --Dale Davis in I Samuel: Looking on the Heart
· Verse 18, “and you will cry out” is reminiscent of Proverbs 1.28-31.
Proverbs 1:28-31 (NKJV)28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
30 They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
3. PEOPLE RESPOND
19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
4. RESOLUTION
21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. 22 So the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every man go to his city.”
· The drama is at a point of tension. What will happen next? --David Tsumura in NICOT
Application Questions:
· Is there is always a temptation for us to avoid being different – even different for God?
· Can you think of times when God has said ‘No!’ to your prayers and you have discovered afterwards what a good answer that was? --Dale Davis in I Samuel: Looking on the Heart
·
· “Jesus is a king who does not take, he gives.” ----John Woodhouse in PTW
[7] David F. Payne,
“1 and 2 Samuel,” in
New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 305.
